Reviews

Hans-Peter Rot: 6-Jan-2007

SCORES

Score/10

Weight

Aroma:

10%

Look/snap:

5%

Taste:

35%

Melt:

5%

Length:

15%

Opinion:

30%

Total/100:

100%

INFO

Best before:

Batch num:

Source:

Supplied by:

Very dark and purple like an Ecuador Nacional, the color is nice to see, while the mold and temper look simple and not particularly impressive, suggestive perhaps of low priority. Things pick up in the aroma, which has lots of blackberries but also ash and cinnamon, which is excessively earthy and musty but still enjoyable and reasonably balanced nonetheless. The scents work well in this combination, with this kind of dark roast.

Flavor is dark with coffee and highly spicy, but some minor fruit (blackberry) lies underneath, along with traces of ash, which signal the beans may have been on the brink of over-roasting. However, the chocolate also tastes diluted and washed out and even has a distinct pasta flavor that asserts itself strongly in the beginning and tapers off as the length progresses. Is this the taste of cocoa butter? Maybe. But maybe not. The texture is too thick for this and indeed, it’s almost fudge-like, but as a whole it doesn’t present any offensive irregularities.

Not exactly a winner for Bonnat but neither a dismal failure, Ceylan balances Bonnat’s preference for dark fruits by providing a spicy and earthy flavor that for now seems merely adequate for a company whose inclinations lean elsewhere. On its own, though, Ceylan has a few problems that still make it only passable, but it is enjoyable every now and then, just not regularly.

Alex Rast: 5-Jun-2005

SCORES

Score/10

Weight

Aroma:

10%

Look/snap:

5%

Taste:

35%

Melt:

5%

Length:

15%

Opinion:

30%

Total/100:

100%

INFO

Best before:

Batch num:

Source:

Supplied by:

Like tannic flavours? This is your chocolate. The tannins in this bar are noticeable and very definitely at the forefront. However, this also makes for a distractingly bitter bar, which many will not be able to look beyond. Perhaps might this have been better in a milk chocolate incarnation.

This bar has a fairly dark appearance – perhaps purple in some ways but with hints of sienna. Once again there was evidence of rough handling as well as imprecise moulding – things that can certainly be looked beyond if the chocolate is good. Aroma is pleasant enough if not superb, mostly tobacco with some earthiness. It’s at a medium strength level, not really shouting out its presence. There’s a certain “”warmth”” to the aroma, welcoming, not exciting.

The flavour instantly shocks. First a strong sour cherry bite hits, along with a woody cast that shouts impact. Next comes a tobacco nuance, and then finally the bar shifts towards a sharp cinnamon – cassia cinnamon like that from Vietnam or Indonesia. Everything has a component of attack to it, and riding through the entire flavour is a strong, unmistakeable bitterness that is very aggressive. Pretty much the entire flavour, then, is that of tannins, which in moderation lend interest but at this level distract. As per Bonnat’s usual, it’s got a slightly rough texture and very dry mouthfeel, things that do nothing to smooth over the very hard flavour. It’s a chocolate much like a speaker set to high volume with a very aggro-rock heavy metal band.

Anne Bramley: 28-May-2005

SCORES

Score/10

Weight

Aroma:

10%

Look/snap:

5%

Taste:

35%

Melt:

5%

Length:

15%

Opinion:

30%

Total/100:

100%

INFO

Best before:

Batch num:

Source:

Supplied by:

The Asian varietal of Bonnat’s global chocolate creations, this bar reflects the terroir of Sri Lanka from where it originates. Beyond the usual range of typically “”Asian”” flavors of chocolate of similar provenance, you’ll find a range of more specific tastes. Unlike say, the tea of the region, this chocolate is neither mild nor unassuming.

A deep dark, almost purple color evidences a deep “”thud”” snap and fudge-like texture with an easy, slow melt it Ã¢â‚¬â€œ all due to the higher (75%) cocoa butter content. Those deep and heavy qualities are carried through to the aromas of dried cherries and tobacco. In taste, however, this bar deviates from these first impressions, which give way to a serious lime tang when you bite into this chocolate. True to the terroir, that lime is almost a bergamot, which some might mistake for a subtly burnt undertone. At the finish a burnt flavor does emerge, though less like over-caramelized sugar and more like a rich but acidic balsamic.